and that it's okay if there was roughness to it because that energy would help fit with the story. it's always about the characters in the story and this the characters in the story lent itself to that kind of film making. >> rose: why this story? >> i really -- i had -- i grew up in the city and i was working with these kids -- these working class kids, kids from tough neighborhoods and they -- i knew this because i went to public school but i was really taken with this idea that there are these kids and they have it tough and we never wanted to sell that out. they don't all lead miserable lives and that was the story that i felt that i was seeing a lot told if you go up to the -- if you're going to tell an inner city story. the kids in suburbs -- >> rose: and what's interesting is not simply that they do bad things or bad things happen to them because they didn't have a normal sort of -- >> right, that they can still be kids, you know? and that in many ways -- it's a tougher existence, you want to stay true to that. >> rose: the reality of their life you want to show. >> exactly.